Of Crossed Straws
by luckbringer
Summary: Rin's completely forgotten about the dinner he has to cook tonight. Luckily, Ukobach is there to help...provided the duo can resolve who gets to make the drinks. A fluff-filled one-shot.


**Finally finished watching the show, but no, I have not read the manga. Still, a little fluff with Rin, Ukobach the kitchen spirit, and Kuro the cat familiar never hurt anyone! This takes place just before "Demon of the Deep Seas". As always, writers love comments, so please leave some! Enjoy!**

Rin hid in his dorm's kitchen, the only place where he might be able to think straight. Yukio was still annoyed that Rin had failed his "History of Exorcism" quiz the day before, and now the younger sibling was determined to make his brother study.

"Good grief," Rin muttered, rubbing a spot on the back of his head where Yukio had hit him with a textbook. "He was a lot nicer when he was helpless."

A sudden noise made him look up, and standing in front of him was none other than Ukobach, the kitchen spirit who cooked for the Okumura brothers. Its purple ears were twitching, and it gave Rin its customary glare that left the exorcist-in-training wondering what he'd knocked over this time.

Rin stared at Ukobach in confusion. The demon didn't usually show himself, unless… It pumped its fists against its chest and he suddenly remembered.

"The party!" Rin shouted, jumping to his feet without realizing that there was a door handle above him. He bit back a curse and fell back to the floor, his head pounding. When he looked back up, he saw that Ukobach was staring at him with something that could only be called amusement. "Shut up," Rin growled, and the demon chuckled evilly.

Trying to thwart Yukio's study plan for him had made Rin forget all about the party. Although, it was more like a small get-together rather than an actual party, since it was only a few people. Earlier that week, Rin, Izumo, and Shima had been assigned their first mission as Exwires: to go to a small coastal town (what was it called again? He couldn't remember) and take care of a dangerous kraken. Not a particularly difficult assignment, but they were excited none the less. It'd been Shima's idea to celebrate with a dinner, but Rin was the one who'd offered to host it. And make dinner. And supply drinks. At the time it'd sounded like a great idea, but now he wasn't so sure.

"Damn it," he muttered. Ukobach watched him stand, eyes suspicious. Or maybe he wasn't really suspicious and just looked that way, all the time. It was hard for Rin to tell. "We've got to feed three people tonight, four if Yukio decides to come out of his study hole. And it's already noon!" He sighed and looked to the demon chef, which had jumped up onto the table in the center of the kitchen. "What do you think, Ukobach? Got any ideas?"

The demon blinked at him. Then it jumped into a frenzy, grabbing ingredients and utensils from all over the kitchen with a speed Rin could only hope to match on the best of days.

"So, you've got the main meal covered?" He called. Ukobach didn't even acknowledge him. "Right," Rin murmured. He grinned and turned to the blender he'd pulled out of the cupboards, grateful for having a friendly demon chef to save his hide. "I'll take care of the drinks!"

Smoothies sounded just right for summer, so he pulled fruit out of the refrigerator at random, not really caring what he was grabbing so long as it was a fruit. On the third trip to and from the refrigerator, Ukobach paused mid-slice and watched him, its tail twitching. Rin ignored it and started scavenging the kitchen for ice and sugar.

When he came back, he blinked in surprise. Ukobach was on the counter next to him, using a blender similar to Rin's. It was already pouring the sliced fruit into the machine.

"Hey!" Rin shouted. "That's my job!" When the demon didn't even bother to look at him, Rin huffed in annoyance and turned his attentions to the raw meat and cold vegetables still lying on the other counters. If it wanted to do the drinks, fine, but that meant he got to make the meal.

Rin heard an angry hiss behind him and whirled. Ukobach had stopped chopping fruit to glower at him, his eyes turning an angry red. The warning was clear: Rin didn't get to touch the food, either.

"Well, I've got to do something!" Rin countered, his arms crossing on their own accord. "I can cook, too, you know! Or have you forgotten that time I nearly beat you in a cooking competition?"

Ukobach looked him up and down. Then he huffed indignantly and went back to preparing the smoothies.

Rin took on an aggressive stance, but his tone was more out of annoyance than anger. "Hey, don't you turn your back on me! You could at least try accepting help once in a while."

"What's going on?" A voice said. Rin turned and saw Kuro on the counter behind him. He looked concerned, but his two black, twitching tails betrayed his amusement. The cat familiar had only belonged to Rin for a little over a week and already they were close friends.

The exorcist-in-training relaxed slightly and went back to having his arms crossed. "Nothing, just watching the nice little kitchen demon cook dinner for tonight." He glared at Ukobach's back. "I would be doing more but this little runt won't let me do anything."

Ukobach's ear twitched, but other than that it showed no sign of having heard Rin's comment.

Kuro chuckled to himself. He'd made sure to get on Ukobach's good side as soon as he started living in the Okumura brothers' dorm, if only so he could be allowed to grab a midnight snack every so often. Sometimes, when the demon chef was feeling particularly generous, it would even make him a special fish or milk dish. Milk and sake were only one of its many delicious talents.

Even so, having Rin in a bad mood never went well. "I'm sorry, Rin," Kuro yowled. "Maybe some other time."

"Yeah, maybe." Rin slouched his shoulders and stuck his hands in his pockets, just as any other angst-filled teenager would. It was his party, he thought. He'd wanted to be the one to serve plates and bowls stuffed with delicacies that would make his friends drool. It wasn't every day the son of Satan got to have that kind of fame. He supposed he'd always be useless, and the images of himself proving everyone wrong suddenly filled him with self-disgust.

Kuro twitched his nose in thought. Rin would often sink into self-hating moods like these, and like any good friend he wished he could break his master out of them. Training or "playing" sometimes did the trick, but this wasn't the time for Rin to pull out his sword and turn into his demonic other half. Although…

Kuro purred to himself as he remembered the one thing Rin could never resist: a competition. "You know," he murmured, "I really like your smoothies. I bet yours are even better than Ukobach's."

Rin glanced up, his eyes already hopeful. "You think?"

"Uh-huh!" Kuro nodded.

"Well then." Rin puffed his chest up, pointed a finger at Ukobach's back, and proclaimed, "Then I challenge you, Ukobach, to a duel! We shall cross straws on the field of this kitchen!"

The demon chef turned and muttered a noise that sounded like, "Huh?"

Now on the roll, Rin jumped to the other blender, raised a knife to the ceiling, and yelled, "To battle!"

It'd been some time since they'd had a competition, Ukobach thought. It nodded and held up its knife as well, its intentions clear. May the best mixologist win!

Behind them, Kuro silently laughed at their frenzy and went straight for the raw tuna lying forgotten on the counter. Nothing like a good pep-talk to make a demon cat hungry, he figured.

* * *

><p>Hours later, Izumo and Shima opened the kitchen door to find Rin and Ukobach sitting on the floor and panting. On every countertop were rows upon rows of colorful beverage creations: smoothies, milkshakes, blended sake, even margaritas and tequilas. Some had whipped cream, others had cherries, and they could have sworn that one or two had cigarettes stuck in them.<p>

"Rin, what's going on?" Izumo asked cautiously.

Rin's eyes flashed open and he jumped up, his arms spread wide. "The drinks!" He told them. "Ukobach and I made drinks!" Ukobach glanced at the son of Satan, and promptly disappeared.

The two other exorcists-in-training blinked in confusion. Shima glanced at the raw vegetables still lying on the counter (and at Kuro licking his paws) and said, "But, where's the food?"

There was a pause, and then Rin's face fell in a mask of shame. "Uh…oh, right. The main course. We, uh, might have forgotten it…"

There were three teenagers in the room, growing students who needed plenty of food. Izumo might not have been a boy, but she prided herself on having the appetite of one. And Shima was, well, the typical teenager who most certainly preferred chicken teriyaki over smoothies. There was a beat of silence, and then chaos erupted.

Kuro grinned and walked calmly out of the kitchen, tails held high. He'd just had the biggest meal of a lifetime. Rin was perfectly capable of protecting himself against two hungry teenagers.


End file.
